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Call the Midwife actor Stephen McGann has bravely opened up about the time his wife Heidi was left “fighting for her life” in a terrifying health battle.
The 60-year-old actor, who has played Dr Patrick Turner on the BBC One show since it first began back in 2012, revealed he was left with the prospect of becoming a widower after Heidi very nearly died.
Speaking in Saga Magazine’s December issue, he recounted the extremely painful incident.
“When Heidi was suddenly struck down with a constricted bowel and advanced sepsis, fighting for her life,” he said.
“The love of my life was nearly taken away and like Scrooge watching Marley’s ghost, I was shown an alternative world.
“I walked the walk of a potential widower with a young child, and then she came back to me.”
Stephen went on to credit the National Health Service for the support and care his family received, crediting it as the real inspiration for Call the Midwife.
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“In a spiritual sense, that’s when Call the Midwife was born,” he reflected. “The NHS saved my life as a child, and Heidi’s life. It’s personal to me.”
Stephen’s character Dr Turner is Poplar’s local physician, who works closely with the show’s midwives to help with deliveries and other issues.
In the second season of the show, the widower falls in love with Shelagh (Laura Main), a nun from Nonnatus House house.
While Shelagh’s vows get in the way of their relationship at first, she eventually resolves to leave the convent and accepts his proposal of marriage.
The couple have become mainstays on the show, alongside Dr Turner’s son Timothy Turner (Max Macmillan) and their other young children.
Call the Midwife will return for a special episode on Christmas Day.
The full article from the December issue of Saga Magazine can be found on www.exceptional.com.
